Best Alternatives of Google’s G Suite -As This is no longer free
Google announced a few days ago that all users of the'”Free edition” of G Suite should “go to a paid subscription to Google Workspace” by July 1, 2022 to continue using Gmail, Google Agenda, Google Drive and the Google office suite, including Docs, Sheets and Slides. But what does this imply? Best Alternatives of Google’s G Suite?
Table of Contents
Who is affected by the closure of G Suite ?
If that can scare, rest assured, however: this change only applies to people, often families or small businesses, who used a Google service that gave them free personalized domain names and associated email addresses, such as first name.com .
Gmail users who keep the domain suffix “@gmail.com” and have free Google accounts allowing them to access Agenda, Drive, Docs, etc. will not be affected. At least for the moment.
The deleted service was originally the free version of Google Apps, available from 2006 to 2012. But after the pay version, the existing free groups were allowed to continue using the service for free. The corresponding paid service was then renamed Google’s G Suite, then Google Workspace in 2020.
Presented as a very interesting solution for businesses, but also families, in order to have a personalized domain name, it is a solution that I used myself since 2006: thus, all of my family members had a personalized email address. Very appreciable thing, which also made it possible to keep the same email regardless of our internet service provider.
But with this change, if you are like me, the current administrator of this group will have to start paying at least € 4.68 per user per month by July, or € 56 per year per person !
If you choose not to pay, the data associated with your group and kept on Google servers must be exported (Google has a tool for this purpose) before July 1, because after this date, they could be deleted forever.
Unfortunately, there is no way to export items such as content purchases for books, movies, music and apps.
What are the impacts ?
In itself, that these services become chargeable is not a concern. We pay a subscription to access the Office 360 suite, after all. All work deserves salary.
But there are two problems here:
On the one hand, many users would not have used the service at the time if it had paid off. Ok, it’s cool to have a personalized address for the whole family, but since you can create an email for free anywhere in 2min, we will not pay what everyone offers for free (at worst we all have an email provided by our access provider). Because let’s face it, if Google makes many tools available, the majority of users only use the mailbox, see the calendar.
On the other hand, Google email is a sesame that provides access to many services, so that today users are taken hostage:
- users will lose all purchases they have made on their Google account (applications, games, books, movies, etc.)
- some have launched a Youtube channel, difficult to move to another account
- personalized email is used on certain services whose authentication is done by a google account directly, without creating an account on the platform. It will no longer work with a move to another host, so loss of account for these services, which generally do not allow the email to be replaced by another :/
In short, if you have been using a personalized email on Gmail for many years like me, it seems very difficult to leave Google without leaving feathers :/
How to keep your G Suite account ?
If you decide to pay, your Google’s G Suite account will be converted into a Google Workspace account whose pricing will be “based on the functionality you are currently using” and your data will be migrated from May 1. Here is a price table for Google Workspace accounts.
The upper level of Workspace, with an unlimited number of users, is the Google office and email configuration that for-profit companies use and pay. Small businesses with less than 300 users can pay € 15.60 or less per user per month. Educational institutions and non-profit organizations that use Google’s G Suite will be transferred free of charge to Workspace. They are the only ones who can continue to benefit from the service for free.
Most “lambda” users will be satisfied with the Business Starter at € 4.68 per month (and per person).
Users of free Google accounts that are not linked to a custom domain will not be affected by all of this, but it is clear that Google is in the habit of suddenly changing its mind about the level of support it provides to its services and devices. After all, these users are also entitled to the same tools: calendar, word processor, spreadsheet, etc. Is it not excluded that these accounts will also pay off in the future ?
Google already backtracked a short time ago on its promise to store an unlimited number of images in Google Photos: it now limits all data associated with a free account to 15 GB. In short, Google is king, and does what it wants !
What are the Best Alternatives of Google’s G Suite?
There are many alternatives to Google’s G Suite. Already, if you just need an email address, your internet service provider systematically provides you with one. Only problem: generally disappears the day you decide to change supplier, which we are led to do more regularly to benefit from better prices.
Infomaniak – In this case, it is better to use an independent service. We presented ik.me last year. A service offered by Infomaniak, hosted in Switzerland, free for life, without advertising, and without resale of your data. A service that offers 20Go storage, and a free Drive for photos and documents.
Well, it is certainly not an address with a personalized domain name. But personally, after this cold shower, even my free Gmail accounts may migrate elsewhere. The American giant has already shown too many times that it can close or pay for any of its services. without leaving any choice to users.
Many other services offer free emails.
Microsoft – It allows you to have a free Outlook email and 15Go storage. He is undoubtedly the most direct competitor of Google, since he also offers many other services if necessary. I already pay a monthly license of 10 € / month for 6 users. Which remains very reasonable (not to mention that one can easily find a year of subscription to less than 50 € during promotions like in Black Friday).
Yahoo Mail – It is very old, and still exists, yes ! A free mailbox with 1To of storage, it is undoubtedly the largest space offered for an email box !
ProtonMail – This is another renowned supplier for data security and privacy. It is located in Switzerland, where data protection legislation is particularly strict (as is Infomaniak for that matter). The free version is however limited to 500Mo of storage, which can quickly prove to be limited.
La Poste – which has been more and more present in digital for several years, also offers a free email service.
In short, there are a lot of services, a simple search on a search engine (like Presearch; -) will tell you a lot.
On the other hand, to have an email with a personalized domain name, we pass on pay. I do not know of a free service which offers this. But at Infomaniak, for example, the 5 emails are only 18 € / year, against 280 € at Google … And if you only need one personalized email, well it is free (you only pay the domain name).
Outlook also allows you to use a custom domain name. But this one only works apparently if the domain name is rented from GoDaddy :/
If you have a NAS, such as a Synology for example, you can even host your messaging service yourself. However, be careful with security, since emails are a prime target for spam, everything will have to be secured.
And you, what will you do ? Are you going to pay for Google Workspace and continue using it ? Which of the Google Workspace formulas will you use ? Or are you going to opt for a free alternative to Google Workspace ? Let us know in the comments below !
If you have tips for leaving as few feathers as possible, I’m interested ! For my part, the email part of the blog will undoubtedly move to Infomaniak, which already hosts my sites, and whose services have been reliable for many years.
The most problematic will be the migration of our family accounts. If moving people who use only the mailbox will not be a problem, moving those who have a Youtube channel, accounts based on Google mail, or many purchases (Android applications, games, movies, etc.) will be much more full-bodied. And it is not possible to migrate one part and leave the other on Google, since they are all linked to the same domain name. Either everyone migrates, or nobody, and in this case everyone will have to pay 56 € / year. Not sure it excites a lot of people…
But whether we like it or not, it will anyway be necessary to have at least one classic Gmail account. It is necessary for voice assistants. If used in home automation, or simply to be able to install applications on his Android smartphone…
